


Catching Feelings

by GeminiWishes



Series: Two Bots and a Girl [1]
Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: F/M, Making Out, Optimus is scared of feelings, Pining, can you blame him though?, charbee, eventual CharbeeOP
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:53:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28426572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeminiWishes/pseuds/GeminiWishes
Summary: Charlie Watson was an enigma.Optimus had honestly expected her to cause trouble and make life more difficult for him.Turns out, he was sort-of right. Just not in the way he thought so.
Relationships: Bumblebee/Charlie Watson, Optimus Prime/Charlie Watson
Series: Two Bots and a Girl [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2082105
Comments: 3
Kudos: 36





	Catching Feelings

**Author's Note:**

> If you're in the Charbee discord, you know what's about to happen.

Charlie Watson was an enigma. 

When Optimus had first met the human girl, he’d been regaled with a tale from Bumblebee involving a car chase, thrown wrenches, fast food, and what he could assume was a complete disregard for Earth speed limits. Needless to say, he’d spent a good hour lecturing Bumblebee as to why such behavior wouldn’t be tolerated for the remainder of their stay on this strange planet.

Optimus hadn’t failed to notice, however, that while Bumblebee was spinning this ‘epic’ story, Charlie had simply sat down on a nearby oil drum and let him talk - just watching him with a small but warm smile. Something about it made him feel like he’d seen it before, but he knew that was impossible, because he’d just met her. After Bumblebee had caught them up on exactly how he had come upon the human, Optimus has expected her to be nothing but trouble.

He was partially correct, anyways.

Bumblebee and Sari’s dynamic duo had seemingly been transformed into a terrible trio. The music was louder, the video game sessions were longer, and the racing was more common. Charlie was apparently a part of a drama group at her college, so it became common place to see her acting out some sort of scene while Bumblebee and Sari filled in the other roles. It quickly lost its charm once Shakespeare’s _Hamlet_ was suddenly riddled with both human and Cybertronian profanities.

And then there were the pranks. Dear Primus, the pranks. Bumblebee had a talent for getting on his crewmates’ nerves ever since his bootcamp days. Sari had only encouraged it with both her father’s technology and her key. But after Charlie showed up, all of the pranks were cranked up to eleven. Optimus was almost certain on more than one occasion that Ratchet would have killed Bumblebee if not for his interference. Bulkhead was understanding for the most part, but even he was starting to get fed up with the pranks. Prowl had actually started to go camping more often just to get some sort of reprieve from the chaos. Optimus couldn’t blame him, even though it was frustrating as all slag whenever they were needed in the city. 

Just when Optimus was ready to write Charlie off as just another unruly sparkling he would have to keep an optic on, she would turn around and do something astounding. Sari had actually started really trying in her studies. Optimus hadn’t heard anything about her playing hookey in months. The music was still loud, but slowly, the selections switched from mindless noise to older selections. It was common to hear a Broadway musical album playing whenever Charlie was over. She was also apparently quite taken with an old human musical group called “The Smiths.” Bumblebee didn’t seem to enjoy it, but he never complained whenever Charlie would start playing _How Soon is Now_.

Bumblebee was borderline unbearable whenever he got worked up about his pranks. But the rest of the time, he was rather… Optimus wasn’t sure if calm was the right word. At ease, maybe? He just seemed to relax more often. Like he still had the capacity for high-energy activity, but was dialing it back in favor of a more docile approach. Optimus had actually caught Bee taking a _nap_ a few weeks ago. There had also been a lack of a bored Bumblebee wandering around the base, bothering the others to entertain him. Optimus had been highly suspicious at first, but that was only until he’d rounded the corner and seen Bumblebee and Charlie together on the couch, talking in hushed tones. He couldn’t see Charlie’s face, but Bumblebee’s face was fixed in a relaxed smile. His entire frame seemed to simply melt into the couch as he spoke quietly with the human.

So yes, Charlie Watson was an enigma. 

And Optimus was becoming more and more sure that she was one of the best things to have happened to them since they’d awoken on this strange new world. 

* * *

“Hey, Bee! I brought the Book of Mormon album!” a familiar voice called out. Optimus glanced up from the computer console to see Charlie entering the warehouse, a backpack slung over her shoulder and a CD in her hand. She paused and looked around a moment before meeting his optics. “Is Bee here?”

“Not right now, no,” he said apologetically. “He and Bulkhead are out on patrol right now.”

“Ah.” Charlie nodded before moving to climb a nearby ladder that led up to the catwalks that circled the base. Optimus glanced her way, unsure what to say as she sat down near his helm and set her backpack down.

“Do you… want me to contact Bumblebee? I haven’t heard anything, but if you’d like me to, I could, erm…”

“Hm? Nah, it’s fine. I can wait.” She waved a hand in assurance.

“If you’re sure,” Optimus hummed before going back to his reports. Silence filled the base, save for the tapping of Optimus’ digits on the console and the flipping of paper as Charlie pulled classwork out of her bag. They enjoyed the companionable silence for a while, and Optimus found that he was able to actually relax for once while in the presence of someone else.

When had it become such a rarity, he wondered.

“So,” Charlie said after about an hour or so, “What are you working on?”

Optimus blinked in genuine surprise. “Just some field reports. It’s a requirement when out on duty to archive all of our data for Cybertron.”

“You mean all the stuff you do for spacebridge repair?”

“That’s right.”

“But you’re not doing spacebridge repair?”

“Well, no,” Optimus looked up from his work. “But with everything that’s happened, Ultra Magnus will want a report. I don’t want to risk forgetting something important whenever we manage to regain contact with Cybertron Command.”

Charlie hummed in understanding, and Optimus went back to typing. A moment later, she spoke again. “So what about you, then?”

“Hm?”

“What’s happening with you?” Charlie flashed him a wide grin as she set a stack of papers aside. “Tell me about a day in the life of Optimus Prime.”

“Shouldn’t you be working on your schoolwork?” 

“It’s not due for another two days. I can put it off for a bit.” She scooted closer to the edge of the walkway and wrapped an arm around one of the rails. “So, talk.”

“I’m not sure what you’re expecting me to say?” Optimus smirked at her. “Despite what the human media might want everyone to believe, our lives aren’t nearly as exciting as they seem on television.”

“That depends on your perspective, I think,” Charlie said with a shrug. “You’re aliens. Something that you see as boring or mundane might seem like the most exciting thing ever to a human.”

Optimus’ smirk widened. “Somehow I doubt that.”

“Come on,” she said, waving a hand in encouragement. “Tell me. Even if it’s not action-packed, I’d like to know.”

“Why?”

At this, Charlie looked at him with a more thoughtful expression. “Because you’re my friend,” she said matter-of-factly, “and I’d like to get to know you better.” Optimus wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He’d only spoken to her a handful of times in the months that she’d been in their lives. He’d thought she saw him as an acquaintance at best. For her to call him a friend so casually - it struck something in him that he wasn’t sure how to explain.

So he told her about his day. It really wasn’t anything interesting. Sari certainly never seemed interested in the things he had to tell her about his day-to-day schedule. But despite the dullness of it, Charlie listened with rapt attention, nodding and humming with acknowledgement, letting him know that she was actually paying attention. It was… different, but a good kind of different. 

When he’d finished explaining what he’d done that day and given her a more in-depth explanation about his reports, Charlie started asking him more about himself. And despite himself, Optimus found himself actually indulging her. It was odd - usually, he didn’t like to talk about himself. He’d usually be the one to listen to somebody else go on and on. It was one of the reasons why he and Sentinel had become friends in the Academy. But something about Charlie made him feel… safe, almost. Like what he had to say mattered. Like _he_ mattered.

He’d briefly mentioned Sentinel, only in answer to her question about friends he’d had in the Academy. Charlie must have noticed something about the way he’d said it, because she proceeded to tell him about how when she’d been in school, she’d had two close friends who had stopped talking to her. He could tell that it was a painful thing for her to talk about, and he was actually rather touched that she trusted him enough to be this vulnerable with him.

Perhaps he really should have been paying better attention when she’d shown up.

And on it went. For the next few hours, Optimus and Charlie talked. Sometimes they spoke about their own lives, sometimes about their home planets, and sometimes about something entirely different. But as they talked, Optimus found himself relaxing more and more. His EM field, which he usually kept pulled tight against himself, had slowly unravelled and stretched out around him. He wasn’t sure if Charlie had noticed it, but he could tell that sometimes, if he focused his field enough, he could make the hair on the back of her arms stand up on end.

When Prowl wandered out into the main area in search of oil, Optimus had felt something inside of him curl up into itself. Charlie frowned up at him, like she’d noticed his sudden change in demeanor, but before she could ask him about it, Bulkhead and Bumblebee appeared, driving into the base and transforming back into root mode. 

“Charlie!” Bumblebee exclaimed, a bright smile on his faceplate. Charlie’s gaze flickered between the two of them for a moment more before she got up and turned to Bumblebee, smiling warmly at him.

“Hey, Bee.”

“When’d you get here? You weren’t waiting around for long, were you?”

“It’s fine. I hung out with Optimus,” she said while offering that warm smile to the Prime. He felt like his spark was flipping at the glint in her eyes. 

“He didn’t bore you with his history vids, did he?” Bumblebee asked, wrinkling his nasal ridge. “Those things always make me fall into recharge.”

“Actually,” Charlie said, nudging Bumblebee’s finger when he reached out to pick her up, “it was really fun. We got to chill out and it was awesome. Right, Optimus?”

Optimus blinked owlishly, unused to anyone coming to his defense like that. No one enjoyed listening to him go on about his history vids. “Um, right,” he managed to say rather indignantly. Charlie’s smile widened, and that fluttering feeling came back.

“Huh.” Bumblebee glanced up at Optimus for a moment before shrugging. “Okay, well, thanks for keeping her company, boss bot.” He gestured back to Bulkhead, who was talking to Prowl in the corner. “Bulk’ll give you the full report, but there wasn’t really anything around. Boringest patrol ever.” He lifted Charlie up to his helm and grinned. “You bring me something?”

“Actually,” Charlie began, and Bumblebee turned to walk down the corridor towards his quarters, nodding his helm excitedly. Optimus watched them go, that fluttering in his spark slowly fading away.

* * *

After that first impromptu conversation, Optimus had believed it to have been a fluke. He was certain that it wouldn’t happen again.

But then it did. Once. Twice.

By the fifth time in two months that Charlie had appeared when Bumblebee was not around, Optimus began to suspect that Charlie was setting up these meetings on purpose. It took another month for him to work up the courage to ask her about it, to which she had simply smiled at him and said “I like talking to you. I like making time to have these talks.” 

She’d asked him if that was alright, offering to stop if it made him uncomfortable - to which Optimus quickly assured her wouldn’t be necessary. He found Charlie’s presence considerably calming and refreshing. More than once, he’d found himself looking forward to the next time he would have one of their in-depth discussions.

It wasn’t long until he began to truly see himself as Charlie’s friend, and her as his.

* * *

It was getting rather late, and Sari’s impromptu movie night had finally wound down. Prowl, Bulkhead, and Ratchet had all called it a night by the time Optimus had bid them good night. He’d said something to Bumblebee about making sure that he got some recharge since he had patrol tomorrow, but he couldn’t recall whether or not Bumblebee had actually listened. Optimus had slipped into berth and powered down almost immediately, more than ready for some much needed recharge himself.

Unfortunately, his processor decided to dump a ton of information into a rather bizarre and, frankly, horrifying recollection. 

_He was trapped in a cavernous labyrinth, the skittering click of organic beasts echoing off the tunnel walls. Optimus got the distinct feeling that something was following him. Something big. Something dangerous. Something that wanted to kill him._

_He ran much too slowly, and his spark was hammering in its chamber. The further he ran, the louder the skittering and the footsteps became._

_Someone was screaming. He couldn’t tell if it was him or someone else._

His optics flashed nearly white as he suddenly came online. The feedback from his optics took a klik to unscramble itself before he could properly look around. He gripped the edges of his berth, feeling the cool, unmoving metal beneath his servos in an effort to ground himself.

He was on Earth.

He was the leader of a spacebridge repair crew.

He wasn’t in the Academy anymore.

He wasn’t on Archa-7.

He repeated that in his processor like a mantra, over and over again. He didn’t stop until his servos stopped shaking. His fans were still whirring loudly, so he waited until his internal components cooled down enough for the fans to deactivate with a faint click. 

Optimus stared up at the ceiling of his room for a while, not really thinking about anything. His tanks lurched slightly, and a notification requesting fuel popped up on his optical feed. He dismissed it and slowly sat up. Perhaps a little bit of oil would help. It certainly couldn’t hurt anything. With a deep ex-vent, Optimus swung his legs over the edge of his berth and stood up, taking a moment to stretch.

He quietly slipped out of his room, checking to see if anyone was in the hallway. Finding it clear, Optimus made his way down the corridor, towards the main area where they kept all the oil barrels. As he got to the entryway, Optimus could hear the sounds of the television.

Were they really still awake? Optimus took care to keep his steps light as he crept closer. He could see the light of the television filling the main area with a faint glow. A commercial of some kind was playing, but it didn’t seem like the others were paying attention. Optimus could see Sari curled up in her sleeping bag on the arm of the sofa, sound asleep. He could see Bumblebee’s helm, but just barely. He dared peek over just a little more. Bumblebee was awake, holding Charlie in his servos against his chassis. His optics were shut, and he was…

Optimus blinked and stepped back, unsure if his optics were playing tricks on him. A minute passed, and he dared to peek out again.

Bumblebee and Charlie were kissing. He was holding her close, one servo running along the column of her spine, while the other was gently tangling digits in her hair. His engine was purring quietly, but loud enough for Optimus to pick it up. Charlie let out a soft little giggle as she wrapped her arms around Bumblebee’s neck, pulling him closer. Their kiss was slow, as if they were savoring every moment of it. 

Optimus knew he shouldn’t be spying like this. It was completely inappropriate. He needed to turn around and walk away, give them the privacy they deserved. 

Except he kept staring. 

Charlie let out a small squeak as Bumblebee suddenly sat up, pulling her close so that she wouldn’t fall. He pulled away to grin mischievously down at her before his mouth returned to hers. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips before he began moving his derma down her jaw. Charlie hummed and her eyes fluttered shut as she tilted her head up. Bumblebee’s engine gave a small rev of approval before rewarding her with more kisses peppered along her jaw and neck. 

When he reached the junction between her neck and her shoulder, Bumblebee tugged the sleeve of her loose pajama shirt aside, revealing the smooth skin beneath. When he leaned in to press another kiss to the skin there, Charlie gasped and threw her head back. “Bee…” she moaned, her hands running along the plating of his helm.

Optimus nearly fell in his hurry to back away from the intimate scene. He could feel his faceplates heating up and had to manually override his fans when they tried to click on. Unable to focus and not wanting to get caught spying, Optimus quickly returned down the hallway to his room. The moment he shut the door, he let out a deep vent and buried his face in his servos. 

What was wrong with him? He had no business watching something like that. He knew better.

Should he say something to Bumblebee? He might have to, as his superior. Optimus had no idea if what he and Charlie were doing was even legal. Surely the Autobot Council had some sort of law about this?

Then again, given just how xenophobic their society was, there was a very real possibility that they didn’t have one because they never thought they’d _need_ one. Would they have to pass one? Oh Primus, was Optimus going to have to _report_ this?

No, he told himself. Absolutely not. He may believe in following the law, but he wasn't about to misuse it as a way to punish someone who was doing nothing wrong.

He wasn’t Sentinel.

So, what was he going to do?

Primus, Optimus had never even thought about the possibility that something like this might happen. They were so different from humans - the thought had honestly never crossed his mind. 

They were so much smaller. More fragile. Their biology was completely and utterly alien. Their lifespans were practically nothing compared to an Autobot’s. Most humans were lucky if they lived for a single vorn. 

And then there were the cultural differences. The majority of Autobots found organics absolutely disgusting. Bumblebee would be ostracized if anyone learned about him and Charlie. Optimus didn’t know much about how he and the others were viewed in human media, but he highly doubted that they would approve of one of their own kind getting… close with an Autobot.

But Bumblebee hadn’t been disgusted. And Charlie certainly hadn’t been complaining. Optimus could still vividly recall how her breath had quickened before she’d moaned out Bumblebee’s name. He squeezed his optics shut at the memory. 

She’d looked so comfortable there against Bumblebee’s chassis, like she belonged there. She seemed so happy. She’d smiled up at Bumblebee and spoken so softly, as if she worried that even speaking too loud would break whatever spell they had interwoven together.

Optimus couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Bumblebee so at ease or so genuinely happy, if he’d ever been. It was so different from the playful grin he’d have whenever he was getting into trouble.

Charlie really had been a good influence on him.

It kept coming back to Charlie. 

He kept seeing it - her smile, the knowing glint in her eyes, the way she arched under a gentle kiss against her neck. He could still hear the little gasp she’d made as her eyes had fluttered shut.

His spark seemed to flutter in kind, and Optimus had to bite down on his glossa.

What was it like, he wondered, to hold her like that?

What was it like to feel her warm skin and her soft hair?

What was it like to kiss her?

Optimus’ optics flew open as a horrifyingly warm feeling began to grow in his spark. It was a feeling he hadn’t felt in millennia, but it was familiar all the same. 

“Oh, no.”

Why? Why was he doing this to himself? It was already bad enough that he’d violated Charlie’s privacy, but now he was…

Primus, he was falling for her. 

It should have made him happy. He should be smiling and humming and daydreaming. But nothing was ever that easy, and all that came over Optimus was renewed sense of dread.

Because no matter how much he might wish for it, Charlie Watson was never going to see him that way. Ever. She was happy with Bumblebee, and he was not about to undermine their relationship.

As he fell into the berth yet again, he briefly recalled that he had completely forgotten the oil.


End file.
